The crisis in the NHS and in general practice must take centre stage in the general election campaign announced yesterday, senior doctors have said. The election on 8 June is expected to centre on Brexit – although Labour sought yesterday to identify the NHS as a key issue. The British Medical Association said the NHS…

GP leaders have expressed alarm that practices will be stripped of doctors by a huge cash injection for urgent care work. Chancellor Philip Hammond yesterday pumped £100 million into projects aimed at setting up primary care centres alongside A&E departments. The plan is backed by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine – but not by…

By Nicola Hayward First month of the year over already. Just where does the time go?  My Nan always said once I’d hit 21, the years would fly by… I didn’t think she actually meant that they would whizz at a rate of knots, so much so, that each week now is just a blur!…

One of the main talking points in practices up and down the country this week has been the prime minister’s statement that all practices will open from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week, or risk losing funding. In a nutshell, the government wants surgeries to keep these extended hours, unless they can prove the…

11th August 2016 Dear Mrs May Firstly, may I congratulate you on your appointment as Prime Minister. I now wait with baited breath for Mrs Clinton to become President and we will have three strong women in power! (About time too!) I write to you in my capacity as a Practice Manager working in Primary…

Nicola Hayward And so, another week nearly over and Politics hits the headlines again… but I have to say, so far I’m pretty impressed with Mrs May, our new PM.  It was an interesting decision to put Boris back ‘in power’ as Foreign Secretary, but he’s made his bed and he’s now been forced to…

We’ve all got that one patient haven’t we? The one who shouts the loudest so gets what he/she wants, regardless of the rules/procedures/protocols that we’re supposed to follow.  I’ve caved in on a few occasions with patients who’ve been put through to me to try and sort them out – and even I can’t get…